Software development outsourcing management – a way to eliminate the problems and enhance the benefits

By now, just about everyone in business today is familiar with the concept of software development outsourcing. You’re probably familiar with the negatives as well as the positives.

For example, the biggest con facing the outsourcing of software development is the communication barrier. Although there are many highly skilled developers in non-English speaking countries – the all too familiar scenario of struggling to discuss complex technical issues with someone in an Indian, Malaysian, etc call center puts many people off. Cultural differences add another big point to the communication barrier as well.

Sure, outsourcing is affordable, convenient to some degree and easy to find – but does it really work? Do you end up paying for your thrift with messy code and completed projects that aren’t really completed? Is the communication barrier more trouble than it’s worth?

The answer is – it depends.

You see, the key to successful software development outsourcing is not the developers themselves.

The real trick to getting all of this inexpensive development talent to work smoothly with you to produce the exact software you really want is that you need a middle man, so to speak. A manager who can plant one foot squarely in your world and the other securely in the world of the developers. In this way, you have a safety valve – a go between who can speak your language as well as theirs.

This goes beyond the spoken language. Speaking your language is not only English, – it’s the tone of your company’s culture, it’s the perfect understanding of your goals, wants and needs. Then this manager can translate all of this to his or her offshore development team accurately and effectively.

The end result is that you now have a way to leverage all of this cost-effective development talent and you’ll get exactly what you want and then some. Any problems, communications and adaptations are handled by your outsourcing manager.

Now, this form of hybrid outsourcing does cost a little bit more than a direct outsource. On the other hand, it’s quite a bit less than an in-house or onshore development option. In a world where the further you can stretch your development dollar the better – hybrid outsourcing could be the key to opening up your company’s power, flexibility and IT effectiveness.

To add more on this topic, we, at Glorium Technologies, have mastered the hybrid outsourcing model and with much of the pleasure we watch how it works for many of our happy clients.